Why Three Years? H weighs in...

[mrhonline]

First things, first. No one, and that includes you Mr. Chad Ford, has more credibility on the Net re: the Hawks than Jaywalker. If he says it's a 3 yr., $20-ishM deal, then I will assume he's right. If he is proven wrong, then I'm sure he'll own up.

Until then, I did some research on Coon's FAQ re: signing bonuses. (Which I think Utah MUST have included - they'd be stupid not to). It's complicated, but I'll throw what I came up with for you guys to critique. Bonuses are valuable b/c you get them immediately, no? But with the CBA, the actual "cap hit" is averaged over the life of the contract, no?

Here's what my MS Excel playing came up with:

3 yrs., $23.1M deal. A $5.78M (25%) signing bonuses up front.

Year 1 $ payable to Mr. Terry: $10.85M

Year 2 $ payable to Mr. Terry: $5.58M

Year 3 $ payable to Mr. Terry: $6.09M

Total $ payable to Mr. Terry: $22.52M

Year 1 actual cap hit: $7M

Year 2 actual cap hit: $7.51M

Year 3 actual cap hit: $8.02M

Total cap hit: $22.52M

What about the difference between the $23.1M and the $22.52M, you ask? That's the cost of signing bonus.

Now this year's cap hit isn't too significant, but the nearly $11M the Hawks must spend for JT will wipe out any chance for profits, especially since the roster isn't complete. It just so happens the $$$ payable to JT is similar to the $$$ "owed" to Terrell Brandon. {Thank you, Mr. (Glenn) Robinson, JT fans love you more than you could know, oh, oh, oh...}.

So why only three years? Here comes the hard part:

IMO, and this matches his recent sentiment in the press, Terry wants out of Atlanta (I know, a shocker, huh). So, he signs the shortest possible deal knowing that Atlanta will match anything within a given price range up to a six-year deal.

Terry will play the next three years in Atlanta, but no more. At the age of 29, Terry will hope for a big payday from anyone who will give it to him.

Now for the good news. This contract is a major gamble for JT (and a coup for Billy Knight, IMHO). He NEEDS to succeed as a PG in the NBA if he is to get that beloved contract in 2006. He will work even harder over the next couple of years at becoming a true 1.

I would be surprised to see Atlanta sign anyone else of value this year, but let the Nazr/Dickau rumors begin --> JT is here for 3 more years.

[capstone21]

Well that works out well for the Hawks.

JT is a bargain at 7 mil against the cap. Now we need to concentrate on finding our SGs/SFs.

Smith/Glover/DJ. Sign them and we have our lineup set.

JT/JV/DD

Glover/Smith/Hansen

Diaw/DJ/CC

SAR/Hendu

Theo/Nazr

I don't think we will sign JJ but he would not be a bad acqusistion either. He finally learned to play D in Sac town and he can handle the ball and score. I think he would be a better fit then Smitty actually but I would like Smith in the locker room.

[Guest]

Salk Lake city news is now reporting the three year deal

that is about what Jay mentioned.

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09132003/sports/92176.asp